Since Orphans
by ImperialApple
Summary: Two orphans with nothing left in their lives manage to find each other in this unforgiving world of Tamriel. Together they help each other survive and build a new life. Of course though, there is no perfect life, there are still deadly choices to be made.
1. Chapter 1

Uncle Solthieas, or as I called him, uncle Sol, was an amazing alchemist. It was an honor for me to watch him work when ever he came to Solstheim from the Imperial City in Cyrodiil to come visit me and my father, he said it was a good place for dunmers like us to live because there's so much diversity there, my father refused the idea though. I would always watch from the docks to see whenever uncle Sol coming into port, he would send me a letter ahead of time telling me what day to wait. Sometimes father would wait with me and sometimes he wouldn't, when he did it was mostly just to watch over me, him and uncle Sol didn't get along very well, I always thought it was because father wanted him as a brother but he was my momma's kin. She died giving birth to me, me and father prayed for her every day to thank her for giving her life for mine.

My father told me when I was seven that uncle Sol only came to see me and not both of us, I told father that maybe he should try pretending uncle Sol is his brother and they could get along better. For some reason that made father really mad, he took his hunting gear and told me not to wait up before leaving. I waved and called goodbye to him before I went to go wait by the docks for uncle Sol again, I was unaware that was the last time I would ever see my father.

When I went home from the docks convinced that the ship was not coming today there was another dunmer going through my father's things, so I did what father told me to do if there was a robber and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find, which was a mace. But when I swung it at him my clumsy feet alerted him and he grabbed then threw it to the side before grabbing me by the arm. He told me he found my father's corpse outside of town, that some bandits had shot him with bow and looted his corpse. I screamed and hit him with my free arm at him trying to get him to let go but he just took the arm he already had ahold of and twisted it and I instantly went to the ground. Then he let go of me and I looked up to see his fist coming and strike me on the right side of my face. I groaned and tried to get up before he put his foot on me and told me to stay down like the obedient dog I was soon to become.

That's when I heard a grunt from the man holding me down and a huge thud followed by the sound of what seemed to be two people scuffling around. I put my arms over my head and curled into a ball, I didn't know what was going on but it didn't sound good. The sound of dishes crashing and all my father's equipment hitting the floor was so loud it almost drowned out the voice of the two men fighting.

A yelp escaped me when I heard the familiar sound of destruction magic being cast and I curled into an even tighter ball. Smoke began filling the room, something definitely had caught caught on fire, the crackling of the fire was accompanied by the sound of footsteps running back and forth. A horror greeted me when I looked up and saw the fresh corpse of the man who attacked me now laying next to me as the flames slowly made their way towards us. It was very unexpected when someone jerked me up by the arm and ran me out the entrance.

Me and my rescuer both coughed vigorously when we got out and fell over to the ground. When he fell next to me he also dropped a cloth filled with items that I recognized from my house. Some of my clothes, some food, and my father's lucky dagger, and my mother's ruby necklace. I looked up at my rescuer knowing there was only one person who would realize how important that dagger and necklace were to my family. My body pretty much flung itself at the other dunmer and I wrapped around his waist while his shoulder length white hair blended in with my own and his arms pulled me into his lap and tightly against his chest, "Thank you uncle Sol..".

My father's funeral wasn't long, and I honestly I didn't even remember it that well when uncle Sol took me to the docks to board back to Cyrodiil, the memory of everything I know ending in one smoking moment was still pretty fresh in my mind. Uncle Sol lived in the Temple District of the Imperial City. I was not used to seeing so much diversity and culture when I moved in, not to mention it was so quiet and friendly, when living with my father there was at least one mugging a night, but here there were guards everywhere, it made me feel kind of uncomfortable though.

After I was finished getting moved into my room my uncle had provided for me I made my way downstairs and to the kitchen. Uncle Sol was wearing a fancy white shirt and a pair of black pants that were pretty wide at the bottom and a worn white apron, his hair was also tied into a high up pony tail with two thick threads of it hanging in the front. He was cooking what looked like venison with some kind of small red fruit. He must of heard me coming down because he turned around and beckoned me over. Slowly I made my way over with my hands held politely in front of me, when I got over to him I glanced over at the red fruit, "What're those Uncle Sol?" I asked him. It seemed like my question took him aback, he pulled one of the threads of hair in the front behind his ear before answering as if to take a moment to think about the question, "You've never seen a strawberry before Arinzi?" he asked, I shook my head which made him proceed to hand one to me. Naturally I was hesitant at first, father always taught me not to eat anything that couldn't be found in our land, but I could trust uncle Sol, so I took a bite. It was the best thing I had ever tasted. The red flavor seemed to dance across my taste buds and when I swallowed it left a nice moist and tasteful feeling in my throat, so I quickly ate the rest, "That was amazing!" I gasped, he proceeded to smile at me, amusement dancing in his eyes, "Can I have more?" I asked, "No little one, this is for after you finish your dinner, this and a piece of sweet cake." I tilted my head, "Sweet cake?" at this he dabbed the cooking ladle against the pot before turning to me, "You're father didn't let you try anything did he?" he asked, I nodded.

A moment passed before I continued with my next question, "So when are you sending me to an orphanage?" I asked. His eye widened and he knelt down to my eye level, "Arinzi what makes you think I'm sending you to an orphanage?" "Well, when other kids where I lived parent's died they were either taken away to be used as servants or sent to an orphanage. Am I your servant?" He shook his head and reached forward brushing my messy hair out of my eyes, "Arinzi you are my sister's son. We share the same blood, you are my family, therefore I will raise you as if you're my own child, you could think of me as your extra parent. Do you understand?" he smiled when I nodded and then ruffled my hair before going back to cooking.

About a year later when my birthday came around uncle Sol made me a sweet cake with many wonderful strawberries. He coughed all over it and dropped it on the floor, and then apologized before going to make another, he was getting sick. So while he was making the cake I decided to go out and look for alchemical ingredients, he'd been teaching me alchemy since the day he took me here, and I was more than willing to learn. I made a simple healing potion for him with aloe vera leaves and lavender sprigs. He was having a hard time holding the potion down I noticed while eating the new sweet cake he made me. He was very good at hiding it, but I was better at noticing, the sweating, his hand constantly over his mouth, a deep breath every so often, these were all things he had taught me to notice so I could watch out for someone that might be sick. So once I finished my sweet cake and he went to grab the plate I told him to go to bed and I would take care of it. Uncle Sol didn't protest, just another sign he was getting sick, he never went to bed before me.

Over a couple of weeks his condition continued to deteriorate. Now uncle Sol had started having weekly visits from a priest of Mara, he tried to convince me that they were just discussing the sale of his potions, but even he could tell as the lies rolled off his tongue that I was more than aware he was dishonest.

Once I convinced uncle Sol that his attempts to hide his mysterious illness from me were in vain he started letting me help him more. Every day we had the same routine it seemed, I got up around 4:30 to retrieve a cold washcloth and place it across uncle Sol's burning forehead, then I was to get a bath ready for him which required me to run from our house to the nearest well to get water then run back and pour it into a wooden tub he'd commissioned someone for, I had to run back and forth at least fifteen times. I was to then help him to the tub and after he'd finish washing make breakfast. I can't count the number of times he apologized at breakfast, he said, "I'm sorry, I should have given you to a nice healthy family to live with, I'm sorry you got stuck with me." to which I replied, "I'd rather be with one who I share the same blood with with a stranger." is what I would always reply.

The afternoon was easier, I just had to help him into the living room and set him on the couch then bring him the latest edition of the Black Horse Courier. After I did he let me do what I want until around 3:00 or 4:00, I usually went to the Arcane University, where I was happily welcomed because of uncle Sol's amazing reputation as an alchemist, the fact that he did his studies there helped too. They let me collect ingredients from their gardens as long as it wasn't rare, so I brought them home and practiced my alchemy. Practiced, practiced, and practiced, until I heard uncle Sol fold his newspaper up followed by the sound of fire crackling against paper. When he throws the paper in the fireplace, that means it's time to start dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

The knife clattered to the wood paneled floor of this middle classed house. I backed up against the coffee table and shook violently, even the flower pot on the table was shaking from me. The portrait of me and my mother was covered with blood, it once hug over the fireplace to my right proudly, a painting of me on my mother's lap with that fake smile, now it laid on the floor, tattered and ruined. Our family's antique couch also covered with blood. The white fabric, permanently stained.

I looked at my hands. The red liquid ran fast down them. My own eyes seemed to quiver at the sight. My mother, she's dead, I hesitantly picked up the knife and slid it into my clothes. Moving over to my mother's body I felt a sudden jump in my throat. I clasped my mouth as vomit spewed from it and through my fingers. I knelt to the ground and coughed trying to get it all out. So badly I wanted to believe my mother's hand would gently rub across my back like usual whenever I was sick like this, but obviously that's impossible now, the thought of that made me cry. After dry heaving a few more times I forced myself to look over back at my mother. Eight puncture wounds in her chest, each oozing blood at an incredible rate. I shakily put my clean hand on her face and shut her still fear filled eyes. There's no way I was going to leave her here with that face. No damn way.

I ran out the front door outside onto the streets of Bravil where I paused to glance at the 'Lady Luck' statue. Muttering a curse under my breath I continued down the road shaking with fear. A guard that was coming in through one of the main entrances quickly sidestepped out of my way when I ran past and outside. He was calling after me, but I didn't care, I had to get out of there and fast. I'm only eleven, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with my mother slain, I have no where to go, no one to go to either. I am completely on my own.

By dusk I made my way to the edge of the Nibenay Valley to the Upper Niben Bay. I found a soft patch of grass and pulled some leaves off the trees to make myself a make-shift bed. I was hoping to get just a few minutes of sleep at the most, but I couldn't sleep at all. Every time I closed my eyes to try all I could see was her face, and before I knew it the sun had completely cycled and was appearing back over the tree lines. When I stood up I noticed some parts of my belted vest felt hard. The blood had dried, I forgot to wash it out. Quickly I removed the belt and pulled my vest over my head and went to the water shoving it in and violently scrubbing and pulling with my hand to try and get the dried up blood and stains out. It didn't matter much for my pants since they were black, therefore the stains weren't really visible.

After about twenty minutes of scrubbing my back ached to much to continue so I pulled my shirt out and threw it over a sturdy looking tree branch. Then I removed my pants and put them around a twig sticking up from a log in the current of the water, even if you couldn't see the stains the crusted blood was uncomfortable for walking, hopefully the force of the current would pull the crusted parts out. After taking off and laying my undergarments in the grass I stepped into the freezing water and felt goosebumps form along my arms and legs, never in my life have I bathed myself in such cold water. Regardless, I slowly sat down against a flat sided rock and forced myself to pour water over my head. I scrubbed my hair and face vigorously, I couldn't look at my reflection in the water since the current was moving to fast so I just had to hope that if there was any trace of blood or...vomit that might have been on me had been scrubbed off.

Just to make sure I cleaned up every part of myself I could I stepped out of the water and looked myself over, I was indeed clean, perhaps the cleanest that I've been in my life. Almost forgotten I recalled my pants being held by the twig and pulled them out, hanging them next to my vest. Then I pulled my undergarments back on and while doing so my stomach growled loudly, I didn't have any food. Looking around I managed to find a blueberry bush and plucked as much as I could holding them in my left arm. That took around ten minutes, mostly because I only wanted to pick the good looking ones.

Upon returning to my little spot I sat the blueberries onto a cleanish looking rock

and went to put on my still slightly wet clothes. I put my pants on and when I put my vest on I reviewed over it. The blood stains were technically still there but they looking more like grease stains, like I'd dropped a piece of meat onto my clothes so I'll assume that I'm safe from any suspicions. When I picked up the blueberries they felt slightly mushy and I frowned, better than nothing though, so I continued heading back to the roads plucking the blueberries from my arms and slowly eating them, after all I have no idea when I'll be able to eat again.

Five days I've been walking out of Bravil, I've made it to the entrance of the Imperial City. No one seems to think I'm suspicious, I washed the blood off of my clothes four days ago. But, even though I'm in the biggest city in Cyrodiil, I'm weak, tired, and hungry. I won't last another night at this rate. Of course no one's going to help an orphan, I'm just a rat to these people at best. After I made my way to the market district I decided it would probably be best if I didn't bother any vendors, I didn't want to get a lash across the face or something of that nature for asking for food again. No, I just continued along the walls of the tall buildings until I found a small alley way and crawled inside. It opened into what seemed to be a little garden. There were dragons tongue growing along with a few types of fungi I was unable to identify, so it was probably best to not try and eat them. I straggled over to the small well in the garden and sat down leaning by body against it, but I quickly fell over onto the grass. I couldn't get myself up no matter how hard I tried, so I began to cry again, it was the only thing left that I had the energy to do, plus, some of my tears helped a little with quenching my throat, or so I told myself. Seeing the sun set behind the city wall was my signal to just close my eyes and sleep. If I don't wake up tomorrow, I don't mind, at least the pain will be over.

Even though every part of me was heavy and sleepy, my senses were still perked. A gasp almost escaped my mouth when rain started pouring on me. My mind was telling me it was acid that was going to melt off my skin for what I'd done, I was wrong, just rain. I began coughing violently and clenched my abdomen drawing in quick and sharp breaths, it felt like something was trying to rip out from my body, I wanted to keep crying but I couldn't produce tears. I just wanted to die so badly. The sound of footsteps was emphasized for they were stepping heavily into the puddles the rain was leaving. Maybe someone had heard me, but I doubt it over then rain, and the sound of my breathing all though painful was quiet. It was probably just someone passing by anyways.

But I suppose that was just my negative thoughts getting the best of me. Rain pounding against me began to lighten as a blue skinned figure raised a fur cloak over me and knelt down pulling the hair out of my eyes. They looked young, my age maybe, were they going to insult me like the kids in Bravil I wonder? Just more negative thoughts, he did nothing of the sort, he picked me up by himself and pulled me up onto his back. That's when I blacked out again.

Every part of my body felt over sensitive, as if the simplest touch to would shatter it into thousands of tiny shards. This isn't what I should feel like if I was dead right? My eyes feel so heavy though, but I force myself to open them. I had to adjust my eyes to the light of a fire before I could examine my surroundings. It seems someone had moved me to a hut of some kind, a pretty big and well made one too considering it was made of sticks and large leaves as coverage. The fire was set up in the center of the room and there were three boxes that I'm guessing are used for tables set up inside. I myself am lying on a bedroll, but, whose place is this?

As if the nine themselves were answering me a short dunmer boy walked in carrying firewood, a book, and a brown sack. He wore tattered overalls and his white hair was put into a very small ponytail and his bangs were ruffled and messy and seemed to be covering a bit of his eyes, a bandage was wrapped around his left arm and seemed to have blood stains on them, it looks pretty fresh. It probably is because he dropped the firewood and then shook out his arm. Then he looked over my way and noticed I had woken up and quickly went and sat next to my side.

"Hey you woke up! I was beginning to think you weren't going to, you've been out for almost two days." he told me. I looked up at the ceiling and coughed, "Why...why did you help me?" I asked. This question seemed to put him off by the concerned look that formed on his face, "My uncle told me to always help people in need, well before he died." he answered." "Is that why you're living out here?" I asked. He nodded and reached into the brown bag pulling out a bottle and a spoon he poured something from the bottle onto the spoon and put it up to my mouth. It wasn't my intention to just take it but I was to tired to protest and just sipped it off the spoon.

When he began putting the medicine on the boxes I looked over again at his wound, "What happened to your arm?" my question triggered him to look over at his arm and for some odd reason laugh too, "Oh this? Well I couldn't exactly afford the medicine I've been giving to you so I've been sneaking into the Arcane University gardens and stealing some ingredients. But to do so I had to climb over a wall and when I was heading back I slipped and messed up my arm, no biggy though." he replied with a reassuring smile, "Hey but, I haven't even introduced myself yet, my names Arinzi," he paused and looked over to me, "Who're you?"

This took me a few seconds to think that question over, I couldn't use my real name, then people might recognize it and find out what I did. Thinking of the easiest name I could I quickly replied, "L-Lucien. Lucien Lachance." Arinzi walked over and sat next to me grabbing the book he'd set next to my bedroll, "Lucien...that's a nice name." he replied, "So Lucien, I know you must be bored so I found this joke book!" he exclaimed cheerfully showing me the front. A smile formed on my face and I leaned my head back down, "Oh c'mon those things are never funny." my words went through deaf ears though as he opened up the book and cleared his throat, "What did the breton say to the dunmer?" he asked, I told him I had no idea. He chuckled a bit and answered, "Hey is something up friend? You're looking positively BLUE today." The stupidity of the joke was enough to get me to let out a small laugh. This dunmer was okay, he seems truthful about wanting to help me. Though at this point I'm more concerned of what his thoughts will be on me staying here when I'm healed up.

Around four hours passed, and with each one I learned more about him. His mother had passed away during his birth and when he was seven his father was murdered by bandits on his way back from hunting, he was then brought to Cyrodil in the Imperial City to live with his uncle. Sadly his uncle had caught the a terrible illness when he turned eight, and no matter how many fancy medicines they gave him he just didn't get better. Eventually he passed away, a couple of guards had come to get him to send him to the orphanage in Skyrim but he told me that he managed to get away from the men and made the house we're in now and managed to survive for two years so far. I told him my father left us, which was true, and my mother was murdered, which was also true but I didn't tell him it was me. And him finding me was about five days after that occurrence.

"Arinzi, I want to thank you for helping me thus far, and I was wondering..." I looked down as I felt pressure increase on my lap, apparently Arinzi had fallen asleep during this conversation. I laughed and curled up in the sleeping bag, the medicine had helped but I was still sick, and tired. Closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep yet again.

The sound of steel clashing together and mens shouting made me jump up from my sleep and scramble to my feet. I almost fell over and used the wall for support. Arinzi was crouched on the ground watching carefully out the door, "Hey what's going-" "SSHHH!" he interrupted, then he beckoned me over. I crouched down on the other side of the door. A bandit and guard were having a heated battle not to far from the hut they were in. Eventually the guard impaled the bandit through the heart and kicked him to the ground, only to proceed to leave the body there and go back to the city. Arinzi sighed and walked outside to the bandit's body and shut his eyes, "Sure the man was a bandit but he didn't deserve to just be left here.." the dunmer mumbled.

His eyes shifted to me, "This isn't the first time this happened near here. It's been getting so dangerous here that, well.. I was thinking of moving some place else. If you'd like, it'd be a huge help if you could move with me. We both have no place to go, we can help each other." Honestly I was left almost speechless at this. Now I wouldn't even have to ask if I could stay with him, "Yeah, of course, I owe you my life after all." I replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Whenever I mentioned the idea of going south while we were preparing for our move Lucien seemed to get angry with me. Especially one time when I mentioned a place near Bravil my Uncle had shown me once, just the right amount of wooded areas to stay hidden and out of the way along with the perfect access to nearby farms to 'borrow' food from. But as soon as I said 'Bravil' he lashed at me saying that it's the shittiest part in Cyrodiil and the only people that live down there are thieves and murderers. So I dropped the idea.

Instead we're heading north, it was Lucien's idea, I guess he just wants to get as far away from the south part of Cyrodiil as he can, I don't want to be alone so wherever he chooses to go I'll follow. So we went north, north all the way to Bruma. I hated it there, and I hated the cold, but like I said, I'd follow him anywhere. We only stopped inside the city to sell herbs we bought along the way to get warmer clothes and food. I wore two grey-blue robes now while Lucien bought a new pair of pants and a workers shirt with sleeves. Lucien doesn't know this but, I partially bought the robes because I feel like a professional mage wearing them. Can't let him think I'm _that _immature though.

We did it, we found a place to finally live peacefully and put an end to our misfortunes...at least we think we did. We've been scouting it out for a few days now, it's hard to just look at that nice warm looking house from out in the snow every day, but Lucien says we have to wait a few more days to make sure no one is currently living there. It's getting hard to be patient, but Lucien helps me pass the time by teaching me moves he learned with his dagger from watching the Fighter's Guild members spar off. In return I try to teach him some of the destruction spells the mages taught me before my uncle died, but he has a hard time getting them down, my dad would say it's because he doesn't have dunmer blood, let alone elven blood..yeah, he'd say something like that. My uncle would encourage him though, encourage him until he became a pro, like was doing with me when he was teaching me alchemy.

Finally! After all that scouting and waiting Lucien said that we can confirm no one lives there anymore. We've moved all our stuff inside, which wasn't much, just a few clothes and books and any food we had left. But it was warm, safe, and rain doesn't just pour through the ceiling like it did in my old hut. I can happily say me and Lucien will be living here together for a long time.

Well, I was right, me and Lucien have been living here a long time, six years in counting. I've been happily watching the nervous and slightly aggressive Lucien mature into a man who's now aggressive and only slightly nervous. He cut his hair kind of short recently, just above his shoulders, said he was going to let it grow out this time though, that he wanted a ponytail, and I approved.

I've matured too over these years, obviously. I'm not quite sure how to explain myself, I'm...calm, peaceful, maybe a bit emotional but I can't help it living so perfectly. Lucien says I have a sassy-feminine voice, I'm not offended because he also said he liked it. The robes didn't stick around for long, I wear normal farming clothes now, and my hair's long enough to be tied back into a ponytail, though I did let two parts of my hair loose from the ponytail and dangle in front of my shoulders, like how my uncle had his. My farming outfit is appropriate considering I'm pretty much a farmer, I started my own garden to the side of Applewatch..that's what me and Lucien nicknamed our cottage, because there was an apple tree growing outside and, well, we watched this cottage for a while. Sometimes Lucien gets mad at me cause a little over half of the garden is strawberries, he just can't understand my love of those small fruit. The way we make money is pretty simple, I just take what we grow in the garden and sell it in Bruma. But also I go to the mages guild to sell potions I make at home. I was even lucky enough to become friends with a guild member named J'skar who is teaching me a lot about magic, destruction magic in particular. He even said he would help me get in if I practiced my magic more and showed I had the potential for it.

"What!? You can't join that guild, you-you can't!" Lucien shouted at me. I nervously rubbed my right arm, I was unable to make eye contact with my imperial friend, "Why? They're just going to teach me how to do spells!" I shouted back becoming a little more confident as I lifted my head to look at him, "So you don't mind just leaving me, this cottage, everything we've built up together behind?" he lashed at me, "Lucien, w-what the hell are you talking about-" "They make you move in Arinzi! You move into the mages guild, that's how you learn so much there!" he interrupted me. During the five years I was living Lucien, this was the first time he actually was making me scared, my stomach felt like it was in a knot and my whole body was heating up. I balled my fists and looked at the ground, "I can't believe you're trying to talk me out of this opportunity.."I muttered in disbelief. My heart dropped when Lucien moved me out of the way and to the door. When he opened it so many things hit me at once, the shrill cold wind from outside, the sweet scent of my garden, the quiet creaking of the cottage, the way his shortened hair blew across his face, and that's when it hit me, Lucien is the most important person in my life, letting him go out that door would be the biggest mistake I would ever make. But when I took just one step forward the world sped up as if playing a cruel joke on me and Lucien slammed the cottage door closed.

As soon as the sound of the slam hit my ears tears brimmed my eyes, I ran straight for my bed and jumped onto it burying my face in my pillow. I couldn't control the sobbing that came with it, the feeling of betrayal and guilt were too confusing for me to comprehend, I couldn't handle it. Lifting my face from the pillow I moved onto my back and held the pillow at my chest, my tears were still falling uncontrollably but this way I wasn't making noise. Everytime I shut my eyes all I could hear again was the slamming of the door, so I kept my eyes closed, reliving it over and over again, until I drifted into sleep.

When I finally awoke my eyes were very crusted and my hair was a tangled mess, I sat for a moment trying to remember what had happened, but it just took one blink to hear the door slam once again giving me a painful reminder. Had I made Lucien leave? For good? If I'd done that, there's no chance I would forgive myself. I sniffled and pulled my hair out of my face and behind my ear then continued to hug my pillow against my body once again. My mind just began flooding with the memories I shared with Lucien, our finding each other, traveling, one memory in particular, one where me and Lucien snuck into a horse stable during the night to observe the large creatures, we stayed there just laughing and enjoying ourselves, he taught me how to pet the horses and how to correctly feed them. The nervousness I felt in my stomach when I held an apple out to a black horse, I thought it might bite my hand off, but I can't express the joy that flowed through my body when the creature ate the apple from my hand only grazing me with their large lips. Lucien was so proud of me, he didn't think I'd do it, but I did. The one person in my life that's alive and was proud of me, who stuck by me, who saved me. I chased them away with my selfishness.

I'm unable to stay in that cottage any longer, it's pitch black outside but I don't care, it feels like those walls are closing in on me. I lit a small flame with my destruction spell to light my way and had a blanket pulled over my shoulders for warmth. The dark never really bothered me much, in fact I found it rather soothing, so I began walking away from the cottage and dimmed my fire. Everything seemed to slow down to a calming speed around me once again. I didn't get far from the cottage when I heard branches and leaves crunching behind me, my chest began to hurt and I stopped using the fire to light my way and turned back around to try and go back, oh but I should have known it was too late.

Someone clunked me in the back of the head, lucky for me it was the shaft of the weapon but still I fell to the ground easily, I tried to get back up to run but was hit back in the head again falling flat on my face. The impact of the weapon and hitting the ground made my ears ring and my vision blur, I thought I was dead because I couldn't get my body to move, honestly I think I was paralyzed in fear. Multiple sets of hands patted me down looking for any valuable belongings I might have on me. All they found was the small bag of potions I carry with me, then they fled. They just left me there, I could tell the back of my head was bleeding, but I was beginning to get myself to move. Slowly I sat up on my knees and took a deep breath, one of my hands gripped the wound on the back of my head and I used the other to push myself back up onto my feet. My legs were too shaky for me to be standing I quickly found out as I toppled over blacking out as soon as my head reached the ground.

Rattling of what seemed to be a cart was the first thing I heard when I started to awake. The whiney of a horse is what really woke me up as it made me gasp in surprise. I still felt weak so I didn't sit up but I reached back and gripped my still aching head, I felt bandages wrapped around it which caught me off guard. My ears were still slightly ringing but I could make at the voices of what I think was two females. One of them answered my suspicions when a bosmer girl with straight red hair pulled back into a messy bun wearing a leather cuirass, leather greaves, and leather boots leaned over me, she let out a sigh of relief and turned to look behind her as she talked to someone else then she turned back to me, "Can you hear me? Are you alright?" she asked, I tried to answer but my tongue was so dry I just started coughing, she reached over and handed me a pouch of water while helping me sit up. After taking a few sips of the water my throat didn't feel as dry as it was, "M..My names Arinzi." was the first thing I said. She smiled, "Nice to meet you Arinzi, I'm Aphelia. And steering the horses up there is my friend Ra'savia," the khajiit women gave a wave back but didn't take her eyes from the road. I looked up at the roof of the carriage, "We um," I looked back at Aphelia hearing her speak to me, "We started to think you wouldn't wake up, you've been out for five days kid.." I was of course shocked at this news but I was still trying to get used to being awake so I paused a moment before replying, "Five days..where are we?" "Oh, well we just passed Kvatch a few minutes back, we're on our way to Anvil." she answered. I looked down at my hands twiddling with my thumbs, "Anvil.." I breathed, "Shit.."


End file.
